Saturday, December 8, 2012

Day 1 - Week 84 - Continuing on with our Directions!!

We are now starting WEEK 84 --- before you know it, our journey will be finished.  But I hope we will continue putting God's Word into our hearts on a regular basis.  As I've said before, I know that I will be going back and reinforcing so many of these verses, firming them up in my memory, as I know so many of them have slipped through the cracks of my aging brain!  At first that really bothered me, that not all of them were staying put, but I became content with knowing that I'm adding Biblical thoughts and principles to my head through this process, and if I need to go back and review and reinforce later on, that's just fine.  Feeding my brain with the Words of God has been just what I have needed, and I plan to stay on this diet the rest of my life!

Let's do a quick review of our recent weeks:

Faith: Trusting God and Resting in His Word (12)
Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift."
Ephesians 2:9 "Not by works, so that no one can boast."
Ephesians 2:10 "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Colossians 3:15 "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful."
Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns
and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."
Colossians 3:17 "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."
Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believe, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."
Romans 1:17 "For in it God's righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith."
Psalm 56:3 "When I am afraid, I will trust in You."
2 Chronicles 16:9 "The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him."
Hebrews 11:6 "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

The Great Commission (4)
Matthew 28:18 "Then Jesus came near and said to them, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth."
Matthew 28:19 "Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."


This week we'll add the third of our four verses regarding the Great Commission...the directions Christ gave us, as His disciples, before He left this earth.

So far we have Matthew 28:18, the affirmation of Jesus' authority to commission His followers.

Matthew 28:19,  Our "marching orders"...go and make disciples...everywhere.
Now adding on Matthew 28:20, "Teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.". 

On the previous post, I included a quote from David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary-explorer to Africa.  Robert J. Morgan includes this entry from Livingstone's journal dated on January 14, 1856 (almost exactly 100 years before my birth on January 13, 1956!) which shows his dependency on the words of Matthew 28:20...
I felt some turmoil of spirit in the evening a the prospect of having all my efforts for the welfare of this great region and in teeming population knocked on the head by savages tomorrow...But I read that Jesus said, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth; go ye, therefore, and teach all nations...and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."  I took this as His word of honor and then went out to take observations for latitude and longitude, which I think were very successful.
 
Morgan adds, "The promise of God's presence is a potent reality for every Christian worker.  It was originally given to the eleven disciples on a hillside in Galilee; and it is so deeply impressed on one of them---Matthew---that he chose to end His Gospel with these words rather than by recording our Lord's ascension into heaven or the promise of His return.  What a joy to practice constantly the presence of the Lord!"

I am with you always...what a promise!  What a comfort!  What a God!  He is with us...what have we to fear?






 

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